Nasdaq Private Market (NPM), a leading provider of liquidity solutions to private companies, their employees, and investors, announced that it has closed its Series B financing. The $62.4 million round was led by Nasdaq with participation from current investors including Allen & Company, Citi, and Goldman Sachs. New investors in the Series B include BNP Paribas, DRW Venture Capital, UBS, and Wells Fargo.

Since its spinout from Nasdaq in 2021, NPM has operated independently through an industry-backed consortium with a mission to deploy cutting-edge technology to accelerate the availability of secondary liquidity in private shares through its high-integrity trading, settlement, and data platform. NPM services some of the world’s most innovative private companies with their liquidity needs for employees and institutional investors. The company has executed more than $50 billion in transactional value across 650 company-sponsored liquidity programs and block trades.

NPM’s primary business lines include Company Solutions, SecondMarket™ Trading Marketplace, Transfer and Settlement, and Tape D™ Data and Analytics. Its Company Solutions business supports private companies using proprietary technology to facilitate tenders, auctions, and pre-direct listing programs. NPM’s next-generation SecondMarket™ electronic trading marketplace is bringing transparency and efficiency to the block trading of private shares with a model fully aligned with the interests of private companies. Its patent-pending Transfer and Settlement technology streamlines the complex, burdensome process of post-match workflows for companies and trading counterparties. NPM’s Tape D™ product will aim to deliver on the market’s need for actionable insights into trading activity and private company valuations for employees and investors.

“We are proud to secure the support of this prestigious group of partners, who share NPM’s passion to transform, modernize, and institutionalize the private markets. For too long, this $3.5 trillion asset class has been defined by inefficiency, illiquidity, and information asymmetry. This financing enables us to continue to build the critical infrastructure required to accelerate the evolution of the private markets into the modern age of efficient, transparent, and regulated electronic marketplaces,” said Tom Callahan, Chief Executive Officer, Nasdaq Private Market. “With many companies electing to stay private longer, this mission is essential to sustaining a robust and viable innovation economy.”

“Nasdaq is pleased to lead NPM’s latest funding round, accelerating our shared vision of advancing the maturity and efficacy of the private markets in a manner that supports our issuer, investor, and sell-side clients,” said Gary Offner, Senior Vice President and Head of Nasdaq Ventures, Nasdaq, and Chairman of the Board of Managers, Nasdaq Private Market. “This investment demonstrates our commitment to bringing deeper liquidity, transparency, and integrity to the private markets, and represents our support of the world’s most innovative companies for the full lifecycle of their journey from private to public.”

“BNP Paribas Global Markets has an ambitious strategy across multiple products in private markets. We’re confident that the partnership with Nasdaq Private Market will help deliver value to our clients and partners,” said Junaid Baig, Head of Strategic Investments for Global Markets at BNP Paribas.

“Citi is pleased to welcome the new investors. The growing interest from our industry peers clearly demonstrates the momentum NPM has built to bring efficiency and transparency to private markets,” said Sandeep Arora, Head of Digital Platforms & Emerging Capabilities, Citi.

“Nasdaq Private Market provides liquidity and data for companies and investors that is in high demand but historically has been difficult to source and validate,” said Kim Trautmann, Partner and Head of DRW VC. “Part of what makes the platform unique is its ability to provide both deep insights on a single company and show investors a holistic, visual view of the market data across their portfolio. This makes it a fairly end-to-end solution, which will be very compelling as we see the continued maturation of the secondary market for private shares.”

“Investors are recognizing the value of diversification and returns in the current uncertain macroeconomic landscape, prompting a growing interest in private markets. Through our commitment to Nasdaq Private Market, we aim to bolster transparency, enhance liquidity, and optimize efficiency, thereby fostering an environment that benefits companies, employees, and investors by providing increased access to secondary market liquidity,” said William Mathews, Global Head of Sales Trading at UBS.

“As the secondary private market continues to evolve and mature, we are excited to support Nasdaq Private Market execute its mission to advance this market structure and to develop private markets into a more versatile and liquid asset class,” said Baljit Basi, Investment Bank Principal Investments at UBS.

Nasdaq Private Market provides liquidity solutions for private companies and their employees and investors throughout each stage of the pre-IPO lifecycle. In 2013, the company was founded within Nasdaq, Inc. In 2021, it became an independent company with strategic investments from Nasdaq, Inc., Allen & Company, Citi, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley.

Source: Nasdaq Private Market